The Church in Africa and Governance

Since the BBC released a three part documentary about the Late Prophet TB Joshua and his Synagogue Church of All Nations, families have become divided, friends and colleagues have fallen apart, and even churches across the continent are divided as to the issues exposed in the documentary.

There are clearly those who insist its nothing but lies. Others clearly say it’s another form of neo-colonialism by the BBC, others points to jealousy by the west to see a fellow African flourishing. For others, it more confusion, why are the allegations coming up only now that he is no longer alive.  Others see nothing and stand by the man of God as he was known till the end, they point to his numerous miracles as a sign of his greatness. And there are those who believe the BBC and hail the documentary as great investigative work that will save millions of blinded followers. Whichever side you are on, this debate will continue for a very long time and many will continue to fall along the way.

If this BBC documentary is to be believed, one will question how did these abuses go for so long unchecked?, why is it hard to believe what was exposed?, why are so many still defending the man of God?

The Nigerian writer Oyewole Akande, a deacon at the Sovereign Grace Bible Church, Lagos in an article on the Gospel Coalition website wrote “the greatest tragedy from this saga is that countless similar scandals have happened before in the African church. More so, they’re almost certainly going to happen again” citing the pastor in Kenya who starved hundreds of his members to death, and the South African Pastor who commanded his flock to eat grass. “The only question is who will be the next pastor to be unveiled as a monster, and in which country it’ll happen?” he asked.

Oyewole goes further to write that the problem in the African church is governance. “I expect these evils to reoccur because the African church has a massive church governance problem. This is how T. B. Joshua was able to get away with such evil for so long” he wrote

Church governance means instituting and implementing a set of rules and procedures that ensures that people in church offices can perform their functions effectively, but are simultaneously prevented from abusing their office or power

Oyewole identifies three types of churches in Africa.  These are those started by western missionaries, and which are now led by Africans,  those that were started by Africans, but whose founders have now died leaving behind an institutional form of church leadership and  Finally, those that are led by founder pastors who are running their churches like a personal fiefdom, without setting in place any strong institutional structures that limits their powers and holds them accountable to members.

He goes ahead to write that most churches in Nigeria have governance problems. But these problems are most exaggerated in the third type of church, Churches that are run by a founder pastor, like the Synagogue Church of All Nations.

He described these founders as entrepreneur who has by hard work and leadership talent built up the institution he leads. Typically, such men (or women) have little or no theological training. The church would be run as a one-man business, where the founder is simultaneously a kind of Pope, an American type CEO using business principles to run the church; and a traditional African style chief, who is a unquestionable parental figure to his or her congregants (for example, T. B. Joshua demanded to be called “daddy”).

The question most of this believing souls ask is, how can we identify false prophets, fake pastors and churches? Rev. Rodgers Atwebembeire from the Africa Centre For Apologetics Research in a youtube video “Be On Guard! False Teachers Are Never Too Obvious” aptly says “False teachings usually look Christian, sound Christian, are almost true but actually are not”

“It’s not like you’re going to find a person one of these days who will tell you, ‘Oh, by the way I am an agent of the devil. Why don’t you just follow me and together we go to hell?’ You are never going to find a Church which calls itself, ‘The devilish, or the cultic Church international’ and they’re inviting you to join them.”

Atwebembeire says “What we find in the scripture is that false teachers are not easily noticed or detected- which is why we need to be discerning.”

 “Scriptures invite all believers to test everything, hold fast to what is good and abstain from every appearance of evil”. He points out ways to discern false teachers with inspiration from the bible using the words of Christ.

 “They come to you in sheep’s’ clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” On the outside they have a picture of a sheep that is gentle, harmless, innocent, something you would liken to a pet. But actually, on the inside they are greedy wolves that are looking for somebody to devour.  They blend in, they work secretly, and they use miracles quoting Jude 4, Galatians 2: 4 and 2 Peter 2

He says In Mathew 24:24, Jesus made a very interesting point when he talks about false Christs and prophets who even perform signs and wonders, if possible, to deceive the elect. In our generation someone who performs miracles is obviously looked at as the man of God. Otherwise, how did he get the power to perform miracles he asked? But Jesus says, “Watch out! Miracles do not validate a man of God.” Instead in Matthew 7 he says, “Do you want to know who a false teacher is? You shall know them by their fruit.

Oyewole puts its in a more practical way. He challenged believers to ask themselves these questions.

Is your church leader is accountable to anyone, within or outside your church? Can your pastor be easily contacted by any church member who has a concern? Is there a clear process for reporting abuse by those in authority in your church? Is there any procedure for removing your pastor from office if he fails?  He concludes that if you are struggling to answer these questions, then know for sure that your church is not running a biblical church model.

He goes back to the bible to cite the case of the Apostle Peter in Acts 11:2-4 After he’d travelled up to Jerusalem, some of the Jews criticise and question Peter. But instead of denying them any right to speak against him, he explains himself. He gives an account, so that “when they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God” Acts 11:8.

Oyewole writes that even Peter, the foremost of the apostles of Jesus Christ, was able to be questioned by ordinary church members and he had to publicly address their concerns until the church was satisfied. Can we see this kind of process in the churches in Africa?

He concludes his article by asking believers to avoid churches without church governance.

The truth is that our search for miracles has blinded us. We no longer look up to God but to miracles.

Thomas Enjala, member of the Eastside Baptist Church and working at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary in an article titled “how did TB Joshua get away with it for so long?” writes  “Healing Seems More Important than Jesus Following, T. B. Joshua’s ministry made much of the wrong man: himself. There seemed to be little to no emphasis on the need for a saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. It was just miracle after miracle. All of SCOAN’s videos promoting the church fixed on Joshua and his miracles. That’s what people came for; it’s what they were sold, Jesus was critical of the crowds that followed after miracles John 6:2 .T. B. Joshua didn’t preach ‘repent and believe’ but ‘come to be healed.”

When we fear men than god then there is a problem. The bible tells us in  Proverbs 1:7 that we should direct our reverence towards God. We should not fear man than God. That is why Christ said, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell” Matthew 10:28

If you fear your pastor, if you cannot confront your church leader about issues then you need to think twice. When our church leaders, pastors use their images, posters, TV channels, books, radios to talk about themselves more than Christ, preach more about miracles, prosperity, earthly longings than the need to repent, urges their follows to dress, think and behave like them, then put a question mark.

Always ask yourself if you truly believe in Christ, what will he (Christ) do in this situation that your pastor is facing, will he ask us to buy his blessings?, will he ask us to pay to see him?, will Christ come to us or we will go to him? Will Jesus Christ today use the TV to be healing people and exposing them to the whole world?, will he be riding in private jets, will Christ give to the poor and show it to the whole world? These questions are many. Let us be wise.

Editorial, Frontline over City FM broadcast on Saturday 27 January 2024